Category Archives: Self-Experimentation

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I’ve just returned from my first snowboarding trip ever, with massive success. I managed to get cruising on my board in a mere 4 hours, compared to the average 3 days.
In those 4 hours, I managed turns, carving steep, intermediate runs and even a couple of tricks, despite never being on the snow before.

By the end of this post you’ll have a bombproof Cheat Sheet on how to hack your first time snowboarding, to yield the best results. I’ll include 80/20 analyses on how to prepare for your first day efficiently, what to focus on during your slope session, and I’ll even throw in a post-shred breakdown for efficient muscle recovery and memory retention for the skills you just learnt.

Is 4 hours realistic? Most definitely, and I’ll explain how you’ll be using Parkinson’s Law to master the basics of snowboarding in such a short time.

Note: I am assuming that you already have your snowboard gear sorted. This is a skill-based tutorial, with a couple of gear tips thrown in.

My self-experiment was to learn how to rock climb, in 16 weeks. I set myself the challenge of reaching a V6 bouldering, and/or a 7a sport grade.
I was what you would term a royal newbie. My background of slacklining, weight-lifting and MMA would prove to be advantageous, however, as I undertook a completely new and different physical challenge.

By the end of the 16 weeks, I had reached bouldering grade V5, and even sent my 7a sport climb, after weeks and weeks of attempts.

I achieved it all by hacking the learning process, discarding the useless info, people and attitudes, and embracing relentless change in the name of achievement. Not to mention suffering an injury and healing it in record time.

This post should help explain how I achieved my climbing goals, briefly cover how I got injured and what I did to rehabilitate, and offer you some resources and tips so that you too, can push your climbing grade, whether you’re a noob or a veteran.
I’ve tried to include the 20% of vital knowledge I gained over the 16 weeks that contributed to 80% of my results, to save you wading through…

This post is going to look at the most effective strength and conditioning routines and exercises that I used to get as strong as I could in 16 weeks whilst learning to climb. I included a video, too, showcasing my handpicked favourite brutal exercises.

Like this:

When it comes to learning a new skill, training or just transforming into a BEAST in general, I like to let Nature do most of the work. After all, she’s a much stronger force than I could ever be, so why not let her take most of the load?
A little confused as to what I mean?
Read on and allow me to explain how I use Nature and the subtle, but very powerful force of Reflex Action to my advantage, whilst on this journey of learning a fantastic and complex new skill: rock climbing.
And bear in mind that this trick can be applied to learning anything new….

So the first 4 of my 16 weeks learning to climb are up.
I have used this time as a trial period for testing ideas out, noting my body’s responses to the abundance of new stimuli and using the results to set up the next 12 weeks properly.

As with any new goal or target, you’re going to increase your likelihood of success if you incorporate it into your lifestyle. This essentially forces you to look at lifestyle design; specifically, how to design your own.
If you’ve been following my LEARNING TO CLIMB series thus far, you should have already figured out your goals list. Part 2 showed you how to get your secret formula in place if you’re goal is to learn a new skill, thanks to a heroic influence of mine, Tim Ferriss, who much to my delight, actually posted part 2 on his facebook page.
Now in Part 3, we’re going to look at the importance of a 4 week trial period, how you can use it to increase your chances of success, and have a laugh at some of the lessons I’ve learnt during mine….